16 Lavender Essential Oil Benefits and Uses
Lavender essential oil is one of the most popular oils that have become a staple in many households. Why is lavender essential oil so popular? There are many lavender essential oil benefits, including to help alleviate many skin and health ailments. We dive deep in this blog article.
Lavender essential oil uses range from being an antiseptic to a perfect relaxant.
Today, lavender essential oil is frequently used in different parts of the world, just as it was used during ancient times. For more than 2,500 years, lavender oil was used for medicinal and religious purposes. It served as a perfume to the Egyptians while the Romans used it for bathing and cooking — this is one oil that helps with many household problems and health issues! Today, hundreds of brands sell essential oils. Be sure to read reviews before purchasing. We recommend Rocky Mountain Oils. Check out our Rocky Mountain Oils reviews to help you get on the right track to buying quality essential oils.
Where Does The Oil Come From?
Lavender essential oil is derived from the flowers of the lavender plant via steam distillation. The thing is, the flowers of the plant are naturally fragrant, and they’ve been used for making potpourri for centuries. There are different types of lavender, including Spanish and French lavender oil. This unique oil also works great in aromatherapy, and it also plays a prominent role in the production of perfumes thanks to its delicate oil fragrance.
Lavender oil is also used in infusion, gels, lotion, and soaps!
The best part? Lavender essential oil isn’t just about “the aroma” as it also has excellent medicinal properties; it relieves pain, boosts blood circulation, disinfects skin and scalp, etc.
Moreover, lavender oil works great with other essential oils including clary sage, geranium, cedarwood, pine, and nutmeg.
Most Common Lavender Essential Oil Uses
- Add lavender oil to your diffuser for aromatherapy benefits. Place your diffuser in your bedroom for better sleep at night.
- If you have any physical ailments, especially in your shoulders, back, or legs, dilute some lavender oil into your massage oil.
- Drop some lavender oil into your hot compress to relieve muscle pain and stiffness.
- Use lavender while taking a shower or a bath. Simply drop a few droplets into your tub. This will ensure absorption and aromatherapy benefits.
Top 16 Lavender Essential Oil Benefits By Health Category
As I mentioned earlier, lavender essential is one of the most versatile essential oils that are chock-full of benefits. It’s typically known for its relaxing effects on the body — both physically and emotionally. Moreover, therapeutic-grade lavender does wonders to the skin, and that’s huge.
Here are some of the most common uses of this multi-purpose fragrant essential oil.
Improves Sleep
For starters, lavender essential oil is an excellent sleep aid that can help you sleep better and longer. This essential oil is a great sleep inducer, and that’s exactly why it’s commonly recommended as an alternative treatment for insomnia. Several studies have shown its effect on elderly patients especially when their other sleep medication is replaced with lavender essential oil on their pillows. This means that the oil has a very relaxing impact on people and it’s sure to be a perfect alternative to modern medicine for sleep issues.
Beats Insomnia
Just sprinkle the oil on pillows or put a few drops on your hands and smooth on your pillow — this will help you sleep better. You can also sprinkle a few drops on your favorite blanket or stuffed animal to get the same relaxing effect. You can also add a couple drops into your little one’s evening bath to help with sleep.
Clears Skin
Your skin can also benefit from the goodness of lavender oil thanks to its antiseptic and anti-fungal properties.
This essential oil does an excellent job when it comes to treating various skin problems such rashes, wrinkles, psoriasis, dermatitis, acne as well as other inflammatory skin conditions. It also speeds up the healing process of burns, cuts, wounds, and sunburns primarily because of its ability to boost the formation of scar tissues.
Moreover, adding a couple of drops to chamomile can help treat eczema. The best part is, lavender essential oil can be applied directly to the affected area with a cotton ball or cotton pad. You can also use it to treat bee or wasp stings!
Improves Hair
Lavender essential oil also works great for hair care.
The oil has been shown to be extremely effective on lice, nits and lice eggs. That’s not all! Lavender essential oil also promotes hair growth, and it’s sure to come in hand for people suffering from alopecia. Here’s the thing; rubbing lavender oil into your scalp on a regular basis can promote hair growth — this is sure to work perfectly for male pattern baldness. It’s also an excellent idea to mix in a drop of lavender essential oil to your regular shampoo for better hair health.
Treats Acne and Breakouts
Are you suffering from acne? If yes, you’re in luck! Lavender essential oil has a soothing effect that fights acne as well as other skin blemishes. How? Well, this essential oil has high antioxidant and antimicrobial properties that help heal dry skin, and reduce the appearance of scars and dark spots caused by acne.
Moreover, lavender is known as a stress and anxiety reliever, and that’s really great for acne. The thing is, lavender essential oil reduces stress, and this is great since flare-ups are more likely to increase during times of high stress. In other words, lavender essential oil reduces the chances of stress-related breakouts, and that’s huge. The best part is, lavender will improve your quality of sleep thanks to its calming and relaxing abilities — you’ll eventually get more radiant and healthy looking skin.
Other Medicinal Uses of Lavender Oil
- Analgesic
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Headache
- Migraines
- Stress
- Nightmares
- Sedative
- Hypertension
Caution for Pets: Dogs and Cats
Here’s the bad news — lavender essential oil may not be safe your furry friends, your dog or cat might have to be left out of the benefits of lavender essential oil! It can be concidered toxic for them, because they do not have the proper system to process the ingredients in essential oils. Effects are drooling, coughing, vomiting and sneezing, so use these oils with caution and never leave your pets unattented.
Lavender Essential Oil Recipes
Check out the following recipes!
The Rosemary Lavender Milk Bath for Ultimate Relaxation
What you’ll need:
- Half cup of nonfat powdered milk
- Half cup powdered buttermilk
- 3/4 cup fine sea salt
- Half cup of dead sea salt
- Up to 25 drops of lavender essential oil
- 12 drops of wild rosemary essential oil
Process:
- Get a glass bowl and mix all essential oils with fine sea salt in the same.
- Use a wooden spoon to stir so the oil can be evenly distributed throughout the salt.
- Now add the remaining ingredients and mix properly.
- Once you’re done, store in a glass container. You can also add dried lavender for additional color.
Note: This recipe makes bath salts that are enough for up to 6 to 7 baths.
The Ultimate Air Freshener
What you’ll need:
- Three drops of pine needle oil
- Four drops of wild thyme oil
- Two drops of lavender oil
Simple mix the oils into a scent ball pad and diffuse.
Lavender Essential Oil Blends Well With The Following
African bluegrass, Amyris, clary sage, clove, eucalyptus, anise, bay laurel, buchu, cajuput, camphor, carrot seed, chamomile, cinnamon, fennel, lime, orange, geranium, helichrysum, lemon, peppermint, tangerine.
How to Make Lavender Essential Oil At Home In 5 Steps
What you’ll need:
Get fresh lavender flowers that produce the sweetest fragrance — it’s also great to use lavender leaves and stems but do not use the old woody growth of the plant. You’ll need to have about 2 to 4 cups of material.
Note: Don’t hesitate to cut the stems and leaves into manageable pieces to fit into a jar. You can cut them to be about 1 to 2 inches long or even smaller.
Other important items:
- A large airtight glass container to make your lavender oil in.
- A carrier oil with a mild scent and pale color — it shouldn’t overpower the lavender. Be sure to get enough to fill the container so it can completely cover the plant material. Just be sure not to overfill the container; there should be at least 1/2 inch of free space.
- A piece of cheesecloth which you can use to strain out the plant material
- One dark glass bottle with a stopper to store your finished product
Process:
- Get your glass jar and place your lavender in it. Then, fill the jar with your chosen carrier oil.
- Now, cover the jar tightly with the lid and set the jar in a warm spot to brew. You’ll need to shake it from time to time to make sure it mixes in.
- Leave the mixture to sit for at least 48 hours. The lavender oil is likely to be attracted to your base oil and eventually create a lavender infused oil.Note: Don’t have a suitable warm spot in your home? Well, just run a sink full of boiling water and then place the glass container in the sink for some time — be sure to refresh the hot water when necessary and shake the bottle to mix the ingredients. Don’t forget to allow it to sit throughout the night.
- Now it’s time to strain out the plant material with the cheesecloth or strainer. Be sure to squeeze out enough oil before placing extra plant material into the glass jar. It’s great to repeat this process 2 to 3 times until your desired fragrance is achieved.
- Finally, store your finished product in the dark glass bottle and place it in a cool dark area. Proper storage will preserve its healing properties and allow your oil to last longer.
Lavender Essential Oil Side Effects and Precautions
- Do not use lavender essential oil if you have estrogen-dependent cancer. Because the oil is deeply relaxing, do not use it while you are driving on the road, operating any machinery, or working on anything that requires full concentration (i.e., studying, or physical activity).
- Do not use if you have an estrogen-dependent condition (or hormone-dependent cancer), such as mastodynia (breast pain/tenderness), breast fibroids, etc.
Best Places To Buy
You can buy at RMO, doTERRA, and Amazon
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